Is the needle moving?
-
There is an interesting seesaw going on between an Algerian Cardinal and an
American Bishop. First, you may have noted that Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco,
the a...
1 day ago
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Whispers in the Loggia: "May the Church Be Renewed By Priests Who Are Holy"
Whispers in the Loggia: "May the Church Be Renewed By Priests Who Are Holy"
Pope Benedict consecrated and entrusted the global presbyterate to the protection of the Madonna of the Cova
His Holiness consecrated the priests of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during his trip to Fatima.
What a splendid way to wind down the YEAR FOR PRIESTS.
On behalf of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, we say
THANK YOU, YOUR HOLINESS.
ACT OF ENTRUSTMENT AND CONSECRATION OF PRIESTS TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
PRAYER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, called together by the love of your Son Jesus the Eternal High Priest, we, sons in the Son and his priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.
We are mindful that, without Jesus, we can do nothing good and that only through him, with him and in him, will we be instruments of salvation for the world.
Bride of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the inestimable gift of transformation in Christ. Through the same power of the Spirit that overshadowed you, making you the Mother of the Saviour, help us to bring Christ your Son to birth in ourselves too.
May the Church be thus renewed by priests who are holy, priests transfigured by the grace of him who makes all things new.
Mother of Mercy, it was your Son Jesus who called us to become like him: light of the world and salt of the earth
Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to the wiles of the Evil One.
Preserve us with your purity, guard us with your humility and enfold us with your maternal love that is reflected in so many souls consecrated to you, who have become for us true spiritual mothers.
Mother of the Church, we priests want to be pastors who do not feed themselves but rather give themselves to God for their brethren, finding their happiness in this. Not only with words, but with our lives, we want to repeat humbly, day after day, Our “here I am”.
Guided by you, we want to be Apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and to offer to those who request it the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Advocate and Mediatrix of grace, you who are fully immersed in the one universal mediation of Christ, invoke upon us, from God, a heart completely renewed that loves God with all its strength and serves mankind as you did.
Repeat to the Lord your efficacious word: “They have no wine”, so that the Father and the Son will send upon us a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Full of wonder and gratitude at your continuing presence in our midst, in the name of all priests I too want to cry out: “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Our Mother for all time, do not tire of “visiting us”, consoling us, sustaining us. Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us. With this act of entrustment and consecration, we wish to welcome you more deeply, more radically, for ever and totally into our human and priestly lives.
Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest, so that all mankind shall see the salvation of the Lord, who has the name and the face of Jesus, who is reflected in our hearts, for ever united to yours!
Amen!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » My now annual rant about Ascension Thursday Sunday
What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » My now annual rant about Ascension Thursday Sunday
Fr. Z has a good analysis of tomorrow's Holyday (unless you live in a diocese where Ascension is moved to Sunday). Of all the Holydays of the Catholic Church, this one is explicitly in the Bible insofar as it is stated unequivocally that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven FORTY DAYS after His Resurrection. Do the math and add 40 days to Easter, you get Ascension THURSDAY, not SUNDAY. Yet, to make our religion more comfortable and eliminate any inconvenience, we move Holydays to Sunday or merely not celebrate them as obligatory (Saint Joseph, March 19).
All eight dioceses of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania celebrate Ascension on the actual day (Thursday). Cross the border over the Mason-Dixon Line, our neighboring Archdiocese of Baltimore (Maryland) moved Ascension to Sunday. Even Birmingham, AL, (EWTN) moved it to Sunday. So the televised Mass tomorrow will not be the Ascension.
Ironically, Islam has no hesitancy to require Muslims to honor their historical holydays. Judaism does not move Yom Kippur to make it more convenient. But Catholics have to get a dispensation so our traditional holydays can be moved to accommodate our people's convenience. Canon Law (#1246) states TEN Holydays:
Nativity (Dec. 25)
Epiphany (Jan. 6)
Ascension (40 days after Easter)
Corpus Christi (Thur. after Trinity Sunday)
Mary, Mother of God (Jan. 1)
Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
Assumption (Aug. 15)
Saint Joseph (Mar. 19)
Saints Peter and Paul (Jun. 29)
All Saints (Nov. 1)
That same canon, however, allows for each nation's episcopal conference to petition Rome for permission to move one or more of these holydays to Sunday. Today, when people are the most mobile next to being nomads, we cater to their convenience.
Several months ago I had to rent a car at the airport while visiting Irondale, AL. The only car available had manual windows and locks and no air conditioning. Talk about a time warp. Boy, was annoyed. Most of us have forgotten the days where only expensive luxury cars like Cadillacs had power windows, power locks, electric seats, heated seats, and FM. El cheapo cars were all manual and often had manaul transmission, too. Times changed and technology got less expensive. People now EXPECT and DEMAND convenience. Nothing wrong in that but it can spill over into one's spirituality. When you are used to having remote control, cable TV with 50+ channels, microwave ovens and high-speed broadband internet access, any delay is considered irritating to say the least.
Hence, people EXPECT the times of Mass to be convenient. They expect diocesan policies and even canon law to cater to their convenience. People complain when you make demands of them, like having only practicing Catholics as godparents for baptism or confirmation. When you tell them they NEED at least one practicing Catholic but they CANNOT have two men or two women as godparents, nor can the parents be sponsors for baptism or confirmation, you get rebellion. "What do you mean?" We changed the laws of fast and abstinence and made them so convenient they are almost ineffective for some people. We don't have to return to the rigor of ancient days but I read somewhere a doctor is advocating VOLUNTARY practice of the old THREE HOUR fasting before receiving Holy Communion. Once, it had been no food from midnight on, then it was three hours, now, one hour before reception of the Holy Eucharist. One hour has no effect on the body but three hours actually has a physiological effect but not deleterious or dangerous (unless you have a condition like diabetes, etc.)
Could you imagine the UPROAR if the Church demanded we return to the 3 hour Communion fast? But any one of us can do VOLUNTARILY and do it for the intention of making reparation for sacrileges committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament around the world. Just a thought. And, why not go to Mass even on those 'non-obligatory' holydays especially when they fall on a Saturday or Monday? If our Jewish and Muslim brethren can keep their feasts and traditions, why can't we Catholics? Embrace the inconvenience and offer it up. Save souls. One by one, brick by brick.
Fr. Z has a good analysis of tomorrow's Holyday (unless you live in a diocese where Ascension is moved to Sunday). Of all the Holydays of the Catholic Church, this one is explicitly in the Bible insofar as it is stated unequivocally that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven FORTY DAYS after His Resurrection. Do the math and add 40 days to Easter, you get Ascension THURSDAY, not SUNDAY. Yet, to make our religion more comfortable and eliminate any inconvenience, we move Holydays to Sunday or merely not celebrate them as obligatory (Saint Joseph, March 19).
All eight dioceses of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania celebrate Ascension on the actual day (Thursday). Cross the border over the Mason-Dixon Line, our neighboring Archdiocese of Baltimore (Maryland) moved Ascension to Sunday. Even Birmingham, AL, (EWTN) moved it to Sunday. So the televised Mass tomorrow will not be the Ascension.
Ironically, Islam has no hesitancy to require Muslims to honor their historical holydays. Judaism does not move Yom Kippur to make it more convenient. But Catholics have to get a dispensation so our traditional holydays can be moved to accommodate our people's convenience. Canon Law (#1246) states TEN Holydays:
Nativity (Dec. 25)
Epiphany (Jan. 6)
Ascension (40 days after Easter)
Corpus Christi (Thur. after Trinity Sunday)
Mary, Mother of God (Jan. 1)
Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
Assumption (Aug. 15)
Saint Joseph (Mar. 19)
Saints Peter and Paul (Jun. 29)
All Saints (Nov. 1)
That same canon, however, allows for each nation's episcopal conference to petition Rome for permission to move one or more of these holydays to Sunday. Today, when people are the most mobile next to being nomads, we cater to their convenience.
Several months ago I had to rent a car at the airport while visiting Irondale, AL. The only car available had manual windows and locks and no air conditioning. Talk about a time warp. Boy, was annoyed. Most of us have forgotten the days where only expensive luxury cars like Cadillacs had power windows, power locks, electric seats, heated seats, and FM. El cheapo cars were all manual and often had manaul transmission, too. Times changed and technology got less expensive. People now EXPECT and DEMAND convenience. Nothing wrong in that but it can spill over into one's spirituality. When you are used to having remote control, cable TV with 50+ channels, microwave ovens and high-speed broadband internet access, any delay is considered irritating to say the least.
Hence, people EXPECT the times of Mass to be convenient. They expect diocesan policies and even canon law to cater to their convenience. People complain when you make demands of them, like having only practicing Catholics as godparents for baptism or confirmation. When you tell them they NEED at least one practicing Catholic but they CANNOT have two men or two women as godparents, nor can the parents be sponsors for baptism or confirmation, you get rebellion. "What do you mean?" We changed the laws of fast and abstinence and made them so convenient they are almost ineffective for some people. We don't have to return to the rigor of ancient days but I read somewhere a doctor is advocating VOLUNTARY practice of the old THREE HOUR fasting before receiving Holy Communion. Once, it had been no food from midnight on, then it was three hours, now, one hour before reception of the Holy Eucharist. One hour has no effect on the body but three hours actually has a physiological effect but not deleterious or dangerous (unless you have a condition like diabetes, etc.)
Could you imagine the UPROAR if the Church demanded we return to the 3 hour Communion fast? But any one of us can do VOLUNTARILY and do it for the intention of making reparation for sacrileges committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament around the world. Just a thought. And, why not go to Mass even on those 'non-obligatory' holydays especially when they fall on a Saturday or Monday? If our Jewish and Muslim brethren can keep their feasts and traditions, why can't we Catholics? Embrace the inconvenience and offer it up. Save souls. One by one, brick by brick.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY
ecce mater tua
MOTHER - It was no accident nor coincidence that Our Divine Lord had a human mother. He could have come to earth out of thin air, being a Divine Person. As God He could have created His human nature without the assistance of a mother since He did so without the help of a biological father anyway. YET, Jesus Christ WAS born of a woman. He HAS a human mother. Her motherhood did not end when she gave birth. It was not a nine month assignment. Motherhood BEGINS at conception, continues through gestation and birth and really kicks off once Jr. starts to cry and needs food, shelter and plenty of LOVE.
On this Mother's Day, we honor those special women who have been given the same vocation shared by the Virgin Mary. Not only did these women bring us INTO the world, they also LOVED us. Children know and learn about the love of God by first experiencing it from MOM and DAD. Jesus felt the warm caress of Mary's cheek against His as she cuddled Him as an infant. She lovingly and tenderly rocked Him in her arms. She nursed Him, bathed Him, kissed Him, hugged Him and held His hand.
Since Christ was TRUE GOD and TRUE MAN, His human nature was as real as ours. Even though He had a divine nature hypostatically united to His human nature in His one Divine Person, Jesus had the same human emotions any son would have for His mother. Since His humanity never ended once the Incarnation took place, His relationship, His LOVE for His Mother can never cease, either. As God, He is her Lord but as Man, He is her Son.
God blesses us with our own dear mother's who sacrifice so much for their children and who love us unconditionally. My Mom endured the death of three of her five children. One was an infant of three days (my sister Mary Jo). The other was a victim of Muscular Dystrophy (my brother Michael) who died at the age of 26. The last was a victim (my brother Joe) of an underage drunk driver. Six months after his tragic death, my dad died just before he and my mom could celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Now, she lives with my last surviving brother (Mark) who (Deo gratias) is in remission from leukemia and she suffers with horrible back pain. More than 40 years of nursing as head of the Trauma Center and Emergency Room ruined her vertebrae, disks, spine, etc. Still, when possible, she enjoys a visit to Alabama to see the Poor Clares and Franciscan Friars at EWTN. Before Mother Angelica suffered her stroke, the two of them would chat and I would be a spectator thinking that this is what it must have been like when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. Two 'mothers' in conversation about, whom else, their sons?
Today, I thank God for MY mom, Elizabeth Trigilio; for Mother Angelica; for the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary; and for Holy Mother Church. God is GENEROUS not stingy in His love for us that He has given us all these mothers to show us the breadth, length and depth of divine love.
I also pray for the repose of the souls of my two grandmothers (Anna and Mary) and for the health of my godmother (my mom's sister), my Aunt Rita.
Having been blessed with so much motherly love and affection, I find it incredulous when any human being cannot accept the fact that Jesus must love His own mother even more than we can our own. While God, He is also Man. His humanity is not overwhelmed nor eclipsed by His divinity. She was there for His birth and for His death. She was His most faithful disciple.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
May the Laity be Critical of it's Pastor, Bishop, Pope, Church?
Here is a recap of the talk I gave Wednesday night in Allentown, PA, for the local Legatus chapter.
The Catechism teaches us that scandal is a serious sin
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.
2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.
When scandal occurs IN the Church, what is the proper response of the faithful? Besides being scandalized when clergy misbehave, the laity have the right and often the obligation to say and do something. Mere complaining is not productive and imprudent unrestricted criticism could lead to open dissent and eventual schism or apostasy.
Catholicism is a religion of the great BOTH ... AND (et ...et) as Pope B16 told us whereas other faith traditions have adopted the EITHER ... OR (aut ... aut) proposition. Hence, it is not a question of EITHER speak out OR keep quiet, instead, it is a matter of making distinctions then prudently taking action (to speak or to remain silent). As Catholics, we can BOTH say something when necessary AND we can also shut up when appropriate.
On matters of faith and morals, the official teaching of the Church as elucidated by the Magisterium requires that we ACCEPT. We are to give an ASSENT of Faith to all defined dogmas. Rejecting any dogma is DISSENT and it is a serious offense and grave sin. Revelation is the disclosure of supernatural truths by God to man and which are necessary for our salvation. Unlike Science which learns empirical truth by observation and philosophy which discovers rational truth by deductive and inductive reasoning, theology on the other hand, knows religious truth by divine revelation. "From God's lips to our ears" so to speak.
Consequently, no scientist can DISSENT from the equation 2+2=4 or that water is H2O. Likewise, no theologian and no believer can deny the divinity of Christ, the Real Presence, the Virgin Birth, the Immaculate Conception, et al. It is not academic freedom for Catholic colleges to pay professors who deny Magisterial teachings.
We can DISAGREE on non doctrinal issues, however. The prudential judgments of Popes, Bishops, Priests are not infallible. However, disagreement is not synonymous with DISOBEDIENCE. I disagreed occasionally with my dad but his authority was still valid and in force. My assent or lack thereof has no bearing on the veracity of the issue at hand. My compliance was demanded as my father had authority over me and my brothers. Likewise, as a pastor, some of my decisions and policies were not always met with unanimous agreement but my prudential judgment, though fallible, was still authoritative and I had to consider the common good of the entire parish and not just my own or a few others preferences. Bishops often make prudential judgments their priests, deacons, religious and laity disagree about but must obey and respect since he is the lawful shepherd. I do not have to agree nor like every rule I follow, but as long as it is not a sinful or immoral command, I must comply. Only pride can tempt me to make my will the only one I respect.
Jesus warns us in Matthew's Gospel (ch. 7) to NOT JUDGE lest we ourselves be judged. He goes on the say we must remove the wooden plank from our own eye before we seek to get the splinter out of our neighbor's eye. Christ also admonished us "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example." No hint of mutiny there.
While Catholicism is noted for not being a democracy neither is it a despotic dictatorship. The pope has full, immediate, universal and supreme authority to GOVERN the Church. His infallibility only extends to his teachings on faith and morals. The PRUDENTIAL JUDGEMENTS of the clergy and hierarchy are fair game for polite discussion and debate.
Yet, even FRATERNAL CORRECTION must be done properly. Discreetly, privately and CHARITABLY. While St. Catherine of Sienna is best known for her successful persuasion of Pope Gregory to end the Babylonian Captivity and leave the papal palace at Avignon to return to Rome (after 70 years of the papacy being in France), she nevertheless did not advocate unrestricted criticism of church leaders. Jesus spoke to her in one of her mystical trances:
"It is my intention that [church leaders; priests & bishops] be held in due reverence, not for what they are in themselves, but for my sake, because of the authority I have given them ... Because of their virtue and because of their sacramental dignity you ought to love them. And you ought to hate the sins of those who live evil lives ... But you may not for all that set ourselves up as their judges; this is not my will because they are my Christs, and you ought to love and reverence the authority I have given them ... You ought to despise and hate the ministers’ sins and try to dress them in the clothes of charity and holy prayer and wash away their filth with your tears ... When they are less than that you ought to pray for them. But you are not to judge them. Leave the judging to me."
Once, a Waldensian lived near Saint Francis of Assisi. He challenged the founder of the Order of Friars Minor on his love of the priesthood even when local clergy were not doing or being their best. The heretic asked the Saint about the parish priest nearby who was known to be a prolific sinner.
"I don't know whether these hands are stained as the other man says they are. But I do know that even if they are, that in no way lessens the power and effectiveness of the sacraments of God... That is why I kiss these hands out of respect for what they perform and out of respect for Him who gave His authority to them." The Waldensian left in utter silence.
Quite different from today when every wart and blemish of the clergy is publicized on the front pages of the newspaper.
At the same time, however, some crimes can only be stopped when their existence is exposed. One must prudently and charitably decide how to inform proper authorities to allow them to initiate in depth and extensive investigation while at all times protecting the reputation of the innocent and remembering the right of due process for every accused, who, by the way, are to be presumed INNOCENT until proven guilty in a court of law.
St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica said:
"When there is an imminent danger for the Faith, Prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects."
Pope Leo XIII:
"when circumstances make it necessary, it is not prelates alone who have to watch over the integrity of the faith."
Fraternal correction, then, is sometimes obligatory, be it from a peer, a superior or a subordinate.
The People of God DESERVE orthodox teaching and preaching as well as valid, licit and reverent sacraments. When they are denied these, they have a right to complain to higher authorities, who ought to listen and remedy the situation. BAD theology + BAD liturgy = BAD morality. You won't have to look far when liturgical abuses and theological dissent are creeping into a parish or diocese. The misbehavior of the clergy will soon follow, if not already present. Deacons, Priests and Bishops alike are ordained to serve the spiritual needs of their people. Giving them half-baked catechesis and banal, pedestrian liturgies are serious abuses. Committing or covering up sexual misconduct is of course the most heinous of clerical crimes but none so worse as the victimization of children.
When credible allegations are made, now we have full investigations but are other abuses treated as swiftly? In a culture where the court of public opinion is adjudicated in the media and by the press, many Catholics are tempted to go the route of public exposure.
Cover-up and denial are not solutions but further crimes. At the same time, however, we must preserve dignity and justice and charity, especially the innocent, be they victims or be they the falsely accused. The Code of Canon Law has a system which some overlooked or bypassed and now the civil law is seen as the last hope. In days gone by, discretion was used to protect the reputation of the victims and their families by avoiding sensational media coverage. Sadly, some guilty offenders and/or their superiors who tried to sweep the dirt under the rug, used the same method to keep a lid on the whole disgusting matter. But that was not the norm nor the rule. Many times a priest or bishop who had demonstrated some moral weaknesses would be sent away to an isolated monastery. Not for a five week Hollywood rehab treatment, but in perpitude. Cloistered and in total silence, the repentant sinner made amends by spending the rest of his natural life in prayer and penance. Things changed when psychiatrists told bishops that medical science could cure every mental ailment with therapy and/or medication.
Convinced the panacea was found, some naive superiors believed what they were told by the 'experts'. When proven wrong, however, why aren't the ones who gave clean bills of health to some repeat or serial abusers being sued for malpractice or for millions of dollars? Yes, sometimes bishops were given BAD or INSUFFICIENT or perhaps NO advice on alleged child abusers. The same continues in some places where the clergy are not assaulting children but they are preaching heresy, teaching heterodoxy or engaging in liturgical abuses.
We clergy have to do a better job of fraternal correction of our peers and likewise for the bishops and their colleagues. The faithful need to speak up and speak out but all of us need to do so with charity and discretion. Since we are fallible human beings, our facts may not always be 100% accurate OR our conclusions may be erroneous. Thus, the presumption of innocence must be maintained while fair and adequate investigations are made.
Fraternal correction is not exploitation. It is not judgmental and it is not obligatory. When done properly, however, the accused is given a chance to explain himself and if the answer is unsatisfactory, the recourse is to higher authorities. While there may be some who are jaded in their confidence in the ecclesiastical tribunal system, it has been around for two millennia and is based on Roman Law which goes back almost another thousand years. Unlike English Common Law and American jurisprudence which rely on persuading juries, Roman Law seeks to establish facts and to ascertain the truth more than the protection of individual rights and privileges. When used properly and fully, the innocent can be protected and the guilty punished.
Bottom line is that all the baptized have a right to express their concerns to their spiritual leaders especially if someone of that same genre is deficient or defective in his ministerial duties. Publicity should be the last resort when it appears that justice is being denied. Sadly, the devil is able to filter and buffer information needed for superiors to act appropriately.
This same methodology can be applied to laity in the public arena, notably politicians. Fraternal correction from their peers must be tried. Urging and pressure from the electorate is another source of powerful influence. When all else fails, clergy need to admonish and warn politicians they risk being denied the sacraments if they continue to deny the unborn their right to life.
At the same time, we must have confidence in the promise made by Christ that the gates of hell shall never prevail over Holy Mother Church.
The Catechism teaches us that scandal is a serious sin
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.
2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.
When scandal occurs IN the Church, what is the proper response of the faithful? Besides being scandalized when clergy misbehave, the laity have the right and often the obligation to say and do something. Mere complaining is not productive and imprudent unrestricted criticism could lead to open dissent and eventual schism or apostasy.
Catholicism is a religion of the great BOTH ... AND (et ...et) as Pope B16 told us whereas other faith traditions have adopted the EITHER ... OR (aut ... aut) proposition. Hence, it is not a question of EITHER speak out OR keep quiet, instead, it is a matter of making distinctions then prudently taking action (to speak or to remain silent). As Catholics, we can BOTH say something when necessary AND we can also shut up when appropriate.
On matters of faith and morals, the official teaching of the Church as elucidated by the Magisterium requires that we ACCEPT. We are to give an ASSENT of Faith to all defined dogmas. Rejecting any dogma is DISSENT and it is a serious offense and grave sin. Revelation is the disclosure of supernatural truths by God to man and which are necessary for our salvation. Unlike Science which learns empirical truth by observation and philosophy which discovers rational truth by deductive and inductive reasoning, theology on the other hand, knows religious truth by divine revelation. "From God's lips to our ears" so to speak.
Consequently, no scientist can DISSENT from the equation 2+2=4 or that water is H2O. Likewise, no theologian and no believer can deny the divinity of Christ, the Real Presence, the Virgin Birth, the Immaculate Conception, et al. It is not academic freedom for Catholic colleges to pay professors who deny Magisterial teachings.
We can DISAGREE on non doctrinal issues, however. The prudential judgments of Popes, Bishops, Priests are not infallible. However, disagreement is not synonymous with DISOBEDIENCE. I disagreed occasionally with my dad but his authority was still valid and in force. My assent or lack thereof has no bearing on the veracity of the issue at hand. My compliance was demanded as my father had authority over me and my brothers. Likewise, as a pastor, some of my decisions and policies were not always met with unanimous agreement but my prudential judgment, though fallible, was still authoritative and I had to consider the common good of the entire parish and not just my own or a few others preferences. Bishops often make prudential judgments their priests, deacons, religious and laity disagree about but must obey and respect since he is the lawful shepherd. I do not have to agree nor like every rule I follow, but as long as it is not a sinful or immoral command, I must comply. Only pride can tempt me to make my will the only one I respect.
Jesus warns us in Matthew's Gospel (ch. 7) to NOT JUDGE lest we ourselves be judged. He goes on the say we must remove the wooden plank from our own eye before we seek to get the splinter out of our neighbor's eye. Christ also admonished us "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example." No hint of mutiny there.
While Catholicism is noted for not being a democracy neither is it a despotic dictatorship. The pope has full, immediate, universal and supreme authority to GOVERN the Church. His infallibility only extends to his teachings on faith and morals. The PRUDENTIAL JUDGEMENTS of the clergy and hierarchy are fair game for polite discussion and debate.
Yet, even FRATERNAL CORRECTION must be done properly. Discreetly, privately and CHARITABLY. While St. Catherine of Sienna is best known for her successful persuasion of Pope Gregory to end the Babylonian Captivity and leave the papal palace at Avignon to return to Rome (after 70 years of the papacy being in France), she nevertheless did not advocate unrestricted criticism of church leaders. Jesus spoke to her in one of her mystical trances:
"It is my intention that [church leaders; priests & bishops] be held in due reverence, not for what they are in themselves, but for my sake, because of the authority I have given them ... Because of their virtue and because of their sacramental dignity you ought to love them. And you ought to hate the sins of those who live evil lives ... But you may not for all that set ourselves up as their judges; this is not my will because they are my Christs, and you ought to love and reverence the authority I have given them ... You ought to despise and hate the ministers’ sins and try to dress them in the clothes of charity and holy prayer and wash away their filth with your tears ... When they are less than that you ought to pray for them. But you are not to judge them. Leave the judging to me."
Once, a Waldensian lived near Saint Francis of Assisi. He challenged the founder of the Order of Friars Minor on his love of the priesthood even when local clergy were not doing or being their best. The heretic asked the Saint about the parish priest nearby who was known to be a prolific sinner.
"I don't know whether these hands are stained as the other man says they are. But I do know that even if they are, that in no way lessens the power and effectiveness of the sacraments of God... That is why I kiss these hands out of respect for what they perform and out of respect for Him who gave His authority to them." The Waldensian left in utter silence.
Quite different from today when every wart and blemish of the clergy is publicized on the front pages of the newspaper.
At the same time, however, some crimes can only be stopped when their existence is exposed. One must prudently and charitably decide how to inform proper authorities to allow them to initiate in depth and extensive investigation while at all times protecting the reputation of the innocent and remembering the right of due process for every accused, who, by the way, are to be presumed INNOCENT until proven guilty in a court of law.
St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica said:
"When there is an imminent danger for the Faith, Prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects."
Pope Leo XIII:
"when circumstances make it necessary, it is not prelates alone who have to watch over the integrity of the faith."
Fraternal correction, then, is sometimes obligatory, be it from a peer, a superior or a subordinate.
The People of God DESERVE orthodox teaching and preaching as well as valid, licit and reverent sacraments. When they are denied these, they have a right to complain to higher authorities, who ought to listen and remedy the situation. BAD theology + BAD liturgy = BAD morality. You won't have to look far when liturgical abuses and theological dissent are creeping into a parish or diocese. The misbehavior of the clergy will soon follow, if not already present. Deacons, Priests and Bishops alike are ordained to serve the spiritual needs of their people. Giving them half-baked catechesis and banal, pedestrian liturgies are serious abuses. Committing or covering up sexual misconduct is of course the most heinous of clerical crimes but none so worse as the victimization of children.
When credible allegations are made, now we have full investigations but are other abuses treated as swiftly? In a culture where the court of public opinion is adjudicated in the media and by the press, many Catholics are tempted to go the route of public exposure.
Cover-up and denial are not solutions but further crimes. At the same time, however, we must preserve dignity and justice and charity, especially the innocent, be they victims or be they the falsely accused. The Code of Canon Law has a system which some overlooked or bypassed and now the civil law is seen as the last hope. In days gone by, discretion was used to protect the reputation of the victims and their families by avoiding sensational media coverage. Sadly, some guilty offenders and/or their superiors who tried to sweep the dirt under the rug, used the same method to keep a lid on the whole disgusting matter. But that was not the norm nor the rule. Many times a priest or bishop who had demonstrated some moral weaknesses would be sent away to an isolated monastery. Not for a five week Hollywood rehab treatment, but in perpitude. Cloistered and in total silence, the repentant sinner made amends by spending the rest of his natural life in prayer and penance. Things changed when psychiatrists told bishops that medical science could cure every mental ailment with therapy and/or medication.
Convinced the panacea was found, some naive superiors believed what they were told by the 'experts'. When proven wrong, however, why aren't the ones who gave clean bills of health to some repeat or serial abusers being sued for malpractice or for millions of dollars? Yes, sometimes bishops were given BAD or INSUFFICIENT or perhaps NO advice on alleged child abusers. The same continues in some places where the clergy are not assaulting children but they are preaching heresy, teaching heterodoxy or engaging in liturgical abuses.
We clergy have to do a better job of fraternal correction of our peers and likewise for the bishops and their colleagues. The faithful need to speak up and speak out but all of us need to do so with charity and discretion. Since we are fallible human beings, our facts may not always be 100% accurate OR our conclusions may be erroneous. Thus, the presumption of innocence must be maintained while fair and adequate investigations are made.
Fraternal correction is not exploitation. It is not judgmental and it is not obligatory. When done properly, however, the accused is given a chance to explain himself and if the answer is unsatisfactory, the recourse is to higher authorities. While there may be some who are jaded in their confidence in the ecclesiastical tribunal system, it has been around for two millennia and is based on Roman Law which goes back almost another thousand years. Unlike English Common Law and American jurisprudence which rely on persuading juries, Roman Law seeks to establish facts and to ascertain the truth more than the protection of individual rights and privileges. When used properly and fully, the innocent can be protected and the guilty punished.
Bottom line is that all the baptized have a right to express their concerns to their spiritual leaders especially if someone of that same genre is deficient or defective in his ministerial duties. Publicity should be the last resort when it appears that justice is being denied. Sadly, the devil is able to filter and buffer information needed for superiors to act appropriately.
This same methodology can be applied to laity in the public arena, notably politicians. Fraternal correction from their peers must be tried. Urging and pressure from the electorate is another source of powerful influence. When all else fails, clergy need to admonish and warn politicians they risk being denied the sacraments if they continue to deny the unborn their right to life.
At the same time, we must have confidence in the promise made by Christ that the gates of hell shall never prevail over Holy Mother Church.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Funghi ala Bolognese
GeoTagged, [N40.34363, E76.93090]
Pasta with mushroom Bolognese sauce. Something I cooked for last night's supper. Father Brighenti was here to help with weekend Masses, so my turn in kitchen. Roasted red, yellow & orange peppers on grill. Main entree was pollo sorentino (breaded & fried chicken cutlets layered with breaded & fried eggplant, fontina cheese & tomato sauce then baked for 30 min at 325F)
Monday, April 26, 2010
An Elegant Mass and Magnificent Weekend
Solemn High Pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Fr. Z. & Fr. T.
Dim Sum in Gaithersburg, MD
Full Text of Bishop Edward Slattery
Full Text of Bishop Edward Slattery
excellent sermon preached at National Shrine in DC at Pontifical Extraordinary Form Mass
excellent sermon preached at National Shrine in DC at Pontifical Extraordinary Form Mass
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Double Standard
As Americans, we cherish the age-old inviolability of the doctor-patient and lawyer-client confidentiality. As Roman Catholics, we revere with religious awe, reverence and gratitude the Seal of Confession. The priest-penitent confidentiality is SACROSANCT and outranks all others. Not even the Pope can ask or demand that a priest break the seal and reveal the identity OR the sin confessed in the Sacrament of Penance. Priest Confessors must be ready and willing to sacrifice their own life rather than violate the seal.
Imagine if the New York Times publicly chastised a lawyer for respecting confidentiality of attorney and client rather than violate the trust of the defendant and disclose information to the police. Imagine MSNBC humiliating a doctor for not violating the physician-patient confidentiality and incriminating the accused. It would NOT happen. Yet, a bishop and a cardinal are vilified and demonized for defending the priest-penitent confidentiality.
I had the honor and privilege of attending the Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC) yesterday afternoon at 1pm. The original celebrant was supposed to be His Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. He was attacked in the press for thanking a bishop who refused to break the seal of confession. The penitent was a priest who confessed he was guilty of pedophilia. He could have confessed to mass murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, drug dealer, etc., yet NO SIN EVER EXCUSES THE INVIOLABILITY OF THE SEAL OF CONFESSION.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/france/02/23/religion.france.paedophilia/
The secular press DISTORTED the facts and made it sound as if Cardinal Hoyos praised Bishop Pierre Pican of Bayeux, France, for not reporting a clergy sex offender of children to the local police. In reality, the Cardinal praised the Bishop for not violating the Seal of Confession. PERIOD. Father Rene Bissey confessed his sins and whether he was contrite or not, no priest, bishop, cardinal or pope can reveal who went to confession nor what they confessed.
If the priest abused the sacrament by intentionally tying his superior's hands via the confidentiality of the sacrament, then the priest penitent is guilty of sacrilege but the confessor is forever bound to respect the total and absolute inviolability of the confidentiality of the Sacrament of Penance.
But there is a double-standard today. Lawyers and doctors and even reporters are expected to keep confidentiality but the media wishes to polarize clergy and laity, priests and bishops. Ask any second grader preparing for his/her first confession and First Communion. They KNOW that NO priest can ever disclose the identity of the penitent nor the nature or details of the sins confessed. Were he to do so, the priest would incur an AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION which only the Pope can revoke.
Yes, pedophilia is a horrible, despicable and disgusting and those who abuse children deserve swift and complete JUSTICE where good is rewarded and evil punished. Nevertheless, the Seal of Confession can never be broken. EVER. If the media only realized this and respected it, (they need not agree with it), we would at least have fair and balanced journalism. The ends do not justify the means. Even Charlie Manson should expect his confession to be kept absolutley secret. Nazis and Communists tried to get priests to break the Seal of Confession to no avail. We live in a world where absolutes are endangered species and extreme rarities. Permanent marriage vows unto death or perpetual sexual abstinence for unmarried folks may seem draconian to many people today, nevertheless, they were done in the past and can and ought to in our own era. Likewise, the INVIOLABILITY of the seal of confession is NON-NEGOTIABLE.
Cardinal Hoyos is unjustly slandered. He did not defend the cover-up of a pedophile. He defended the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance and the total confidentiality of the Seal of Confession. The Bishop who heard the priest's confession may have done so unknowingly. A prudent bishop avoids any potential conflict with his priests by normally avoiding being their spiritual director or confessor. This way, whenever a priest is accused of any misbehavior, the bishop can reprimand and discipline the priest as he has learned of the infraction in the open forum. This is why seminary rectors are not allowed to be spiritual directors or confessors (except in periculo mortis) of seminarians. Otherwise, they might have their hands tied when it comes time to evaluate or discipline a seminarian as he could accuse the rector of violating the seal or using information obtained in the closed forum. Hence, bishops tend to avoid hearing priests' confessions so they can justly shepherd their personnel. However, I can envision a scenario where an unscrupulous cleric annonymously goes to confession to his bishop and reveals his identity once inside the confessional.
Hence, Fr. Bissey could have snuck into the box and confessed his sins to the bishop at which time it is too late to say "I'm sorry but what you said is NOT off the record." Normally speaking, bishops would refuse the request of a priest to hear his confession (unless he were dying) to protect the bishop and the diocese and Holy Mother Church should the penitent priest need to be disciplined for misbehavior. If a priest sneaks under the radar screen, though, nothing can be done to dissolve the Seal of Confession. Even a bad confession done for self-serving immoral reasons remains inviolable.
It is the spin-masters who twist the facts and make it seem as if Cardinal Hoyos is protecting pedophiles and/or the cover-up by bishops. He did not praise the bishop for thwarting a police investigation. He lauded the protection of the Sacrament which has NO exceptions. Unpopular as it may be, the sanctity of the Seal of Confession protects the common good of the universal church. Otherwise, no prisoner would go to confession to the Catholic chaplain. If priests could be put on the witness stand, then so could doctors and lawyers. Either confidentiality exists or it is a fictional fantasy. Catholicism has proved it can be done for more than two millennia. That means a few bad eggs and rascals escaped justice in this life but not forever. And what about the truly repentant penitent who confesses his heinous sins? Is our religion not founded on FORGIVENESS? Yes, reward good and punish evil but Jesus also commanded we give people the chance to REPENT. This is NOT a tolerance for pedophiles anymore than Jesus gave carte blanche to adultery when He stopped her from being stoned to death in the Gospel. Was He lenient on fornication? No. He was merciful to sinners.
No one is suggesting that criminals be allowed to escape justice. Justice must be tempered by mercy yet it is never denied by it, either. Innocent children must be protected at all times BUT only through moral means. Violating the seal of confession is never an option.
Imagine if the New York Times publicly chastised a lawyer for respecting confidentiality of attorney and client rather than violate the trust of the defendant and disclose information to the police. Imagine MSNBC humiliating a doctor for not violating the physician-patient confidentiality and incriminating the accused. It would NOT happen. Yet, a bishop and a cardinal are vilified and demonized for defending the priest-penitent confidentiality.
I had the honor and privilege of attending the Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC) yesterday afternoon at 1pm. The original celebrant was supposed to be His Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. He was attacked in the press for thanking a bishop who refused to break the seal of confession. The penitent was a priest who confessed he was guilty of pedophilia. He could have confessed to mass murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, drug dealer, etc., yet NO SIN EVER EXCUSES THE INVIOLABILITY OF THE SEAL OF CONFESSION.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/france/02/23/religion.france.paedophilia/
The secular press DISTORTED the facts and made it sound as if Cardinal Hoyos praised Bishop Pierre Pican of Bayeux, France, for not reporting a clergy sex offender of children to the local police. In reality, the Cardinal praised the Bishop for not violating the Seal of Confession. PERIOD. Father Rene Bissey confessed his sins and whether he was contrite or not, no priest, bishop, cardinal or pope can reveal who went to confession nor what they confessed.
If the priest abused the sacrament by intentionally tying his superior's hands via the confidentiality of the sacrament, then the priest penitent is guilty of sacrilege but the confessor is forever bound to respect the total and absolute inviolability of the confidentiality of the Sacrament of Penance.
But there is a double-standard today. Lawyers and doctors and even reporters are expected to keep confidentiality but the media wishes to polarize clergy and laity, priests and bishops. Ask any second grader preparing for his/her first confession and First Communion. They KNOW that NO priest can ever disclose the identity of the penitent nor the nature or details of the sins confessed. Were he to do so, the priest would incur an AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION which only the Pope can revoke.
Yes, pedophilia is a horrible, despicable and disgusting and those who abuse children deserve swift and complete JUSTICE where good is rewarded and evil punished. Nevertheless, the Seal of Confession can never be broken. EVER. If the media only realized this and respected it, (they need not agree with it), we would at least have fair and balanced journalism. The ends do not justify the means. Even Charlie Manson should expect his confession to be kept absolutley secret. Nazis and Communists tried to get priests to break the Seal of Confession to no avail. We live in a world where absolutes are endangered species and extreme rarities. Permanent marriage vows unto death or perpetual sexual abstinence for unmarried folks may seem draconian to many people today, nevertheless, they were done in the past and can and ought to in our own era. Likewise, the INVIOLABILITY of the seal of confession is NON-NEGOTIABLE.
Cardinal Hoyos is unjustly slandered. He did not defend the cover-up of a pedophile. He defended the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance and the total confidentiality of the Seal of Confession. The Bishop who heard the priest's confession may have done so unknowingly. A prudent bishop avoids any potential conflict with his priests by normally avoiding being their spiritual director or confessor. This way, whenever a priest is accused of any misbehavior, the bishop can reprimand and discipline the priest as he has learned of the infraction in the open forum. This is why seminary rectors are not allowed to be spiritual directors or confessors (except in periculo mortis) of seminarians. Otherwise, they might have their hands tied when it comes time to evaluate or discipline a seminarian as he could accuse the rector of violating the seal or using information obtained in the closed forum. Hence, bishops tend to avoid hearing priests' confessions so they can justly shepherd their personnel. However, I can envision a scenario where an unscrupulous cleric annonymously goes to confession to his bishop and reveals his identity once inside the confessional.
Hence, Fr. Bissey could have snuck into the box and confessed his sins to the bishop at which time it is too late to say "I'm sorry but what you said is NOT off the record." Normally speaking, bishops would refuse the request of a priest to hear his confession (unless he were dying) to protect the bishop and the diocese and Holy Mother Church should the penitent priest need to be disciplined for misbehavior. If a priest sneaks under the radar screen, though, nothing can be done to dissolve the Seal of Confession. Even a bad confession done for self-serving immoral reasons remains inviolable.
It is the spin-masters who twist the facts and make it seem as if Cardinal Hoyos is protecting pedophiles and/or the cover-up by bishops. He did not praise the bishop for thwarting a police investigation. He lauded the protection of the Sacrament which has NO exceptions. Unpopular as it may be, the sanctity of the Seal of Confession protects the common good of the universal church. Otherwise, no prisoner would go to confession to the Catholic chaplain. If priests could be put on the witness stand, then so could doctors and lawyers. Either confidentiality exists or it is a fictional fantasy. Catholicism has proved it can be done for more than two millennia. That means a few bad eggs and rascals escaped justice in this life but not forever. And what about the truly repentant penitent who confesses his heinous sins? Is our religion not founded on FORGIVENESS? Yes, reward good and punish evil but Jesus also commanded we give people the chance to REPENT. This is NOT a tolerance for pedophiles anymore than Jesus gave carte blanche to adultery when He stopped her from being stoned to death in the Gospel. Was He lenient on fornication? No. He was merciful to sinners.
No one is suggesting that criminals be allowed to escape justice. Justice must be tempered by mercy yet it is never denied by it, either. Innocent children must be protected at all times BUT only through moral means. Violating the seal of confession is never an option.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A deacon's proposal for public penance - The Deacon's Bench
A deacon's proposal for public penance - The Deacon's Bench
A Deacon has proposed a very interesting suggestion. Although the percentage of clergy who actually committed acts of child abuse are extremely low, even on case is one too many. Any and all cases of child abuse are unacceptable and reprehensible. At the same time, there is solidarity in suffering and when one member hurts, the entire body feels the pain. Deacon Kandra asks that the bishops make some public act of penance for all the bad decisions and bad actions done by their ordained brethren over the past five decades.
I think there is some merit to his idea. If every deacon, priest and bishop around the world did a brief, silent but poignant act of public penance, like kneeling for one minute facing the tabernacle BEFORE the beginning of Mass AND/OR if we clergy also voluntarily fasted and abstained every Thursday for one year. Some will sarcastically say it is nothing more than a symbolic gesture of futility while others will be indignant and say it is tantamount to a public admission of guilt when only a small minority were actual culprits. Nevertheless, by virtue of Holy Orders, all the ordained (deacons, priests and bishops) are brethren and we need to express sorrow for the mistakes, sins and crimes some of our fellow clerics made in the past, whether the abuse itself or the cover-up afterwards. Yes, most of us, thank God, did not misbehave but some did. When one brother sins, shame comes upon the whole family even though there is no culpability. Public penance is not an admission of guilt but it is symbolic reparation. Prayer for atonement is always a good thing. Humility is a desirable virtue, is it not?
Pope John Paul II did as much for the excesses and crimes done by some individual Catholics during the Crusades, the Reformation and throughout Christian history toward the Jews. He never claimed the Church as a whole was guilty since she is the spotless Bride of Christ. Her individual members, however, clergy, religious and laity alike, have fallen short of the mark. Some victims will not be appeased but this is not meant to whitewash nor smooth over past evils. Individuals who committed abuse, whether it was done by a priest, deacon or bishop OR by a parent, sibling, teacher, coach, scoutmaster, neighbor or relative, should be punished, no if's, and's or but's. Corporately, as the Mystical Body of Christ, we all share in the PAIN felt by victims and those of us who are ordained share in some small fashion in the SHAME incurred by all religious leaders whenever any one of our colleagues abuses others by abusing his position of authority or honor.
As a priest, I am embarrassed each time another incident is revealed of sex abuse of children by a clergyman. I feel no guilt since like the overwhelming majority of ordained clerics, we are individually INNOCENT of any abuse to minors. Out of JUSTICE, it is imperative that we continue to point out that the majority of sex offenders are not clergy but are family members. The second largest number of culprits are teachers, coaches, scoutmasters, neighbors and other relatives. The smallest percentage is clergy. Sadly, there have been enough clergy abusers and victims reported in the media to make the appearance that this is an epidemic. It is NOT. Celibacy is not the cause nor even a contributing factor since the most populous of sex offenders are in fact married laymen and not ordained celibates.
Besides the attrocious incidents where sex abuse was apparently covered-up and culprits merely transferred by a few bad bishops, we have the unfortunate cases where some good bishops were given bad advice, insufficient information or worse yet, offenders were treated and given a clean bill of health. Those psychiatrists who claimed to have 'cured' the pedophile caused a false sense of security. The medical professionals are the ones who told many bishops to return the cleric to regular duties as part of his therapy and treatment. When he abused more victims, however, who got the blame? The doctor or the bishop? Better if we had sent these guys to a cloistered monastery where they would spend the rest of their natural lives in solitude, even away from the main community. No temptations and no opportunity for misbehavior. A spiritual sort of house arrest but one with teeth and one similar to solitary confinement in prison.
Of course, the outrageous lawsuits and constant litigation to sue dioceses, bishops, cardinals and even the Vatican do not want any public act of penance. They thrive on greed and revenge, rather than being motivated out of justice.
In the past, discretion was seen as a way to protect the victims and their families as well as the common good. A few abused that approach and perverted it into coverup and denial. Today, the buzz word is 'transparency' yet we still find sealed files and records whenever minors are involved for good reason. Confidentiality, especially the sacred seal of confession, cannot be sacrificed just because a minority has misused prudent discretion. And most of all, we as Americans, of all people, must cherish and defend our time honored principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. Credible allegations only allow a complete and official investigation. Once facts have been discovered, they must be evaluated by a judge or jury. Sadly, the mere existence of a charge of misconduct is enough to ruin someone's life and future not to mention their reputation.
Bottom line, more good can be achieved if more prayer was offered to God. Policies and programs are tools but the real answer is the conversion of sinners. Society has desensitized the public to many abberations of human sexuality. Children are biologically maturing sooner and emotionally much later. Fashion, culture, enterntainment, etc., is prolific with sexual overtones and innuendo. While none of these is an excuse for child abuse, they all contribute to a global distortion of the dignity and sanctity of human sexuality as reserved for HUSBANDS and WIVES (i.e., men and women married to each other) and oriented toward love (unity) and life (procreation).
A Deacon has proposed a very interesting suggestion. Although the percentage of clergy who actually committed acts of child abuse are extremely low, even on case is one too many. Any and all cases of child abuse are unacceptable and reprehensible. At the same time, there is solidarity in suffering and when one member hurts, the entire body feels the pain. Deacon Kandra asks that the bishops make some public act of penance for all the bad decisions and bad actions done by their ordained brethren over the past five decades.
I think there is some merit to his idea. If every deacon, priest and bishop around the world did a brief, silent but poignant act of public penance, like kneeling for one minute facing the tabernacle BEFORE the beginning of Mass AND/OR if we clergy also voluntarily fasted and abstained every Thursday for one year. Some will sarcastically say it is nothing more than a symbolic gesture of futility while others will be indignant and say it is tantamount to a public admission of guilt when only a small minority were actual culprits. Nevertheless, by virtue of Holy Orders, all the ordained (deacons, priests and bishops) are brethren and we need to express sorrow for the mistakes, sins and crimes some of our fellow clerics made in the past, whether the abuse itself or the cover-up afterwards. Yes, most of us, thank God, did not misbehave but some did. When one brother sins, shame comes upon the whole family even though there is no culpability. Public penance is not an admission of guilt but it is symbolic reparation. Prayer for atonement is always a good thing. Humility is a desirable virtue, is it not?
Pope John Paul II did as much for the excesses and crimes done by some individual Catholics during the Crusades, the Reformation and throughout Christian history toward the Jews. He never claimed the Church as a whole was guilty since she is the spotless Bride of Christ. Her individual members, however, clergy, religious and laity alike, have fallen short of the mark. Some victims will not be appeased but this is not meant to whitewash nor smooth over past evils. Individuals who committed abuse, whether it was done by a priest, deacon or bishop OR by a parent, sibling, teacher, coach, scoutmaster, neighbor or relative, should be punished, no if's, and's or but's. Corporately, as the Mystical Body of Christ, we all share in the PAIN felt by victims and those of us who are ordained share in some small fashion in the SHAME incurred by all religious leaders whenever any one of our colleagues abuses others by abusing his position of authority or honor.
As a priest, I am embarrassed each time another incident is revealed of sex abuse of children by a clergyman. I feel no guilt since like the overwhelming majority of ordained clerics, we are individually INNOCENT of any abuse to minors. Out of JUSTICE, it is imperative that we continue to point out that the majority of sex offenders are not clergy but are family members. The second largest number of culprits are teachers, coaches, scoutmasters, neighbors and other relatives. The smallest percentage is clergy. Sadly, there have been enough clergy abusers and victims reported in the media to make the appearance that this is an epidemic. It is NOT. Celibacy is not the cause nor even a contributing factor since the most populous of sex offenders are in fact married laymen and not ordained celibates.
Besides the attrocious incidents where sex abuse was apparently covered-up and culprits merely transferred by a few bad bishops, we have the unfortunate cases where some good bishops were given bad advice, insufficient information or worse yet, offenders were treated and given a clean bill of health. Those psychiatrists who claimed to have 'cured' the pedophile caused a false sense of security. The medical professionals are the ones who told many bishops to return the cleric to regular duties as part of his therapy and treatment. When he abused more victims, however, who got the blame? The doctor or the bishop? Better if we had sent these guys to a cloistered monastery where they would spend the rest of their natural lives in solitude, even away from the main community. No temptations and no opportunity for misbehavior. A spiritual sort of house arrest but one with teeth and one similar to solitary confinement in prison.
Of course, the outrageous lawsuits and constant litigation to sue dioceses, bishops, cardinals and even the Vatican do not want any public act of penance. They thrive on greed and revenge, rather than being motivated out of justice.
In the past, discretion was seen as a way to protect the victims and their families as well as the common good. A few abused that approach and perverted it into coverup and denial. Today, the buzz word is 'transparency' yet we still find sealed files and records whenever minors are involved for good reason. Confidentiality, especially the sacred seal of confession, cannot be sacrificed just because a minority has misused prudent discretion. And most of all, we as Americans, of all people, must cherish and defend our time honored principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. Credible allegations only allow a complete and official investigation. Once facts have been discovered, they must be evaluated by a judge or jury. Sadly, the mere existence of a charge of misconduct is enough to ruin someone's life and future not to mention their reputation.
Bottom line, more good can be achieved if more prayer was offered to God. Policies and programs are tools but the real answer is the conversion of sinners. Society has desensitized the public to many abberations of human sexuality. Children are biologically maturing sooner and emotionally much later. Fashion, culture, enterntainment, etc., is prolific with sexual overtones and innuendo. While none of these is an excuse for child abuse, they all contribute to a global distortion of the dignity and sanctity of human sexuality as reserved for HUSBANDS and WIVES (i.e., men and women married to each other) and oriented toward love (unity) and life (procreation).
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Support from Our Elder Jewish Brother
Redemption Comes Through The Jews… Jewish Businessman, Sam Miller, Whaps Anti-Catholic Bias in News Media
(Full Text)
Sam Miller, prominent Cleveland businessman – Jewish, not Catholic – is fighting mad about & concentrated effort by the media to denigrate the Catholic Church in this country.
I’m going to say things here today that many Catholics should have said 18 months ago. Maybe it’s easier for me to say because I am not Catholic, but I have had enough, more than enough, disgustingly enough.
This has bothered me because I too am a minority in this country. You see, unfortunately and I say this very advisedly the Catholics have forgotten that in the early 1850’s when the Italians, the Poles, the Latvians, the Lithuanians, all of Catholic persuasion, came to this country looking for opportunity because of famine, (particularly the Irish) they were already looked upon with derision, suspicion and hatred. Consequently the jobs they were forced to take were the jobs that nobody else wanted bricklayers, ditch diggers, Jewish junkmen, street cleaners, etc.
This prejudice against your religion and mine has never left this country and don’t ever forget it, and (sic) never will. Your people were called Papists, Waps, Guineas, frogs, fish eaters, ad infinitum.
And then after the Civil War, around 1864, the fundamentalists, conservatives, Protestants and a few WASP’s began planting burning crosses throughout the country, particularly in the South. And today; as far as I’m concerned, very little has changed. These gentlemen now have a new style of clothing they’ve gone from bed sheets to gentlemen’s suits.
There is a concentrated effort by the media today to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. You don’t find it this bad overseas at all. They have now blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage. You and me have been living in a false paradise. Wake up and recognize that many people don’t like Catholics. What are these people trying to accomplish?
From the Sojourner’s Magazine dated August, 2002, listen carefully to a quote, “While much of the recent media hype has focused on the Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal, relatively little attention has been given to the high rate of sexual misconduct in the rest of American Christendom. This is truly a crisis that crosses the borders of all religions.”
Now let me give you some figures that you as Catholics should know and remember. For example, research by Richard Blackman at Fuller Theological Seminary shows that 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact. In a 1990 study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergywomen reported unwanted sexual behavior by a colleague; 17% of laywomen said that their own pastors had sexually harassed them. Phillip Jenkins concludes in his book “Pedophiles and Priests” that while 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia, 10% of Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia.
This is not a Catholic problem. This is a problem of pure prejudice. Why the papers, day after day, week after week, month after month, see fit to do nothing but come out with these scurrilous stories? When I spoke recently to one of the higher ups in the newspaper I said, “This is wrong”. He said, “Why, do you want us to shoot the messenger?” I said, “No, just change the message”. He said, “How?” I said, “I’ll tell you how”.
Obviously, this is not just a Catholic problem. And solutions must be broader and deeper than those carried out by Catholic cardinals. The whole church has a responsibility to offer decisive leadership in the area of sexual misconduct whether it is child abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual harassment.
Recently, churches have shown unprecedented unity on issues of poverty and welfare reform. Now it is necessary to call for a broad based ecumenical council addressing the issue of sexual misconduct in the church not only the Catholic Church, all churches, including synagogues. Its goal would be transparency and openness in developing stringent, forward?looking guidelines, consistent with denominational distinctions, for preventing and addressing sexual misconduct within Christian churches and church?related institutions.
Such a council could include not only denominational representatives but also a majority presence from external organizations such as child protection agencies, law enforcement, psychiatric services, victims’ agencies, and legal and legislative representatives.
Crisis. “Crisis” in Chinese is one word. “Crisis” in Chinese means, on the one side, a real crisis problems etc., but the other side means great opportunity.
We have a great opportunity facing us. Crisis is often accompanied by an opportunity for extraordinary growth and leadership. We have that today. Even though you are the lowest ?? by far the lowest of any organized religion today when it comes to sexual harassment ?? American churches have a unique opening to develop and adopt a single set of policies, principles, practices, and common language on sexual misconduct in Christian institutions that is binding across denominations.
A system of cross denomination review boards could be established to help compliance and accountability. A centralized resource bank could be formed that provides church wide updates on new legal, financial, psychological and spiritual developments in the field. Guidelines, both moral and legal, could be established on how clergy, churches, and victims should best use civil and criminal actions in pursuit of justice and financial restitution for injury. A national database could be established with information on all applicants for ordination in any member Christian religion. Every diocese, conference, presbytery, and district could have a designated child protection representative whose job is to ensure that the policies and procedures are understood and implemented and that training is provided.
For Christians, the true scandal is not about priests. It’s about a manipulation of power to abuse the weak. When Jesus said, “Whoever receives the child, receives me”, he was rebuking his followers for putting stumbling blocks in front of the defenseless. Church is supposed to be a place where one can lay one’s defenses down; where one is welcomed, embraced, and blessed. This can only be authentically expressed in a culture that requires absolute respect for each individual’s freedom and self hood. Until all churches bow humbly under the requirement, the indictments by wounded women and children will stand.
Just what are these Kangaroo journalists trying to accomplish? Think about it. If you get the New York Times day’ ,after day; the Los Angeles Times day after day, our own paper day after day ………………….. looking at the record, some of these writers are apostates, Catholics or ex-Catholics who have been denied something they wanted from the Church and are on a mission of vengeance.
Why would newspapers carry on this vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?
Do you know and maybe some of you don’t the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday, at cost to your Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. Needless to say, that Catholic education at this time stands head and shoulders above every other form of education that we have in this country. And the cost is approximately 30% less.
If you look at our own Cleveland school system, they can boast of an average graduation rate of 36%. Do you know what it costs you and me as far as the other 64% who didn’t make it?
Look at your own records. You (Catholic schools) graduate 89% of your students Your graduates in turn go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%, and all at a cost to you. To the rest of the Americans it’s free, but it costs you Catholics at least 30% less to educate students compared to the costs that the public education system pays out for education that cannot compare.
Why? Why would these enemies of the Church try to destroy an institution that has 230 colleges and universities in the United States with an enrollment of 700,000 students?
Why would anyone want to destroy an institution like the Catholic Church which has a non profit hospital system of 637 hospitals which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people not just Catholics in the . United States today?
Why would anyone want to destroy an institution like that? Why would anyone want to destroy an institution that clothes and feeds and houses the indigent 1 of 5 indigents in the United States, I’ve been to many of your shelters and no one asks them if you are a Catholic, a Protestant or a Jew; just “come, be fed, here’s a sweater for you and a place to sleep at night” at a cost to the Church of 2.3 billion dollars a year?
The Catholic Church today has 64 million members in the United States and is the largest non-governmental agency in the country. It has 20,000 churches in this country alone. Every year they raise approximately $10 billion to help support these agencies.
Why, after the “respected” publication, the New York Times, running their daily expose’ on the Church, finally came to the conclusion of their particular investigation, which was ongoing for a long time. And guess what: buried in the last paragraph, they came up with a mouse. In their article “Decades of Damage” the Times reported that 1.8% of American priests were found guilty of this crime whereas your own Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome reported 1.7% the figure I gave you earlier.
Then again they launched an attack on the Church and its celibate priests. However, the New York Times did not mention in their study of American priests that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in the face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.
Why wouldn’t the New York Times, the paper of record they call themselves, mention this? You had to read it in the Los Angeles Times. The New York Times refused to print it.
If you read only the New York Times, you would begin to believe that priests are cowards; craven; sexually frustrated; unhealthy criminals; that prey on the innocent. What a shame.
Sometimes freedom of the press should have some type of responsibility, too. So I say this to you: instead of walking around with a hangdog look ?? I talk to a lot of Catholics all the time, “how’s everything going?” ………… “Well, in the face of things I guess okay”. That’s the wrong answer! The wrong answer!
Also, I ran into a fellow who said they started a discussion at some social function on pedophilia and he said, “I excused myself and left the room.” I said, “why did you do that?” “Well, you know how it is”.
I believe that if Catholics had the figures that I enumerated here, you don’t have to be ashamed of anything. Not only are you as good as the rest, but you’re better, in every respect.
The Catholic Church helps millions of people every day of the week, every week of the month, and every month of the year. People who are not Catholics, and I sit on your Catholic Foundation and I can tell you, and what I am telling you is so. Priests have their problems, they have their failings just as you and I in this room do, but they do not deserve to be calumniated as they have been.
In small measure let’s give the media its due. If it had not come out with this story of abusive priests, (but they just as well could have mentioned reverends, pastors and rabbis and whatever), probably little or nothing would have been. done. But what bothers me the most is this has given an excuse to every Catholic hater and Catholic basher to come out loudly for the denigration of your Church.
If some CEO’s are crooks it does not follow that every CEO is crooked; and if some priests are sexually ill it does not follow that all are sick. And your Church teaches that you’ve got to take in the sick and a priest who is this way has to be taken in and cannot be thrown out the 21st story of a building. He’s got to be looked upon and given the same type of health that you would give anybody who has a broken leg or cancer or whatever.
The Church today, and when I say the Church keep in mind I am talking about the Catholic Church, is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by an infinitesimally small number of wayward priests that, I feel, have probably been totally weeded out by now.
You see, the Catholic Church is much too viable to be put down by the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer take your choice, they can’t do it, they’re not going to do it and sooner or later they are going to give up. But you’ve got to make sure that you don’t give up first.
In 1799 a notice was placed in a French newspaper that a citizen Brachi had died in prison. Little did the people realize that this was Pope Pius VI who had occupied the Chair of Saint Peter for 25 years. He had been taken prisoner by Napoleon’s forces and died in prison as an indigent. At that time the thought was that this was the end of the Catholic Church, this was 200 and some odd years ago. And the reason was that there was no Pope to succeed him at that time.
But you fooled them then, and we’re going to fool them again.
I’ve been talking more or less about the United States of America as far as the importance of the Church. Let’s bring it home to Cuyahoga County and the seven surrounding counties.
In education, you save the county 420 million dollars per year. Wherever there’s a Church and most other churches have fled the inner city there’s a Catholic Church; and wherever there’s a Catholic Church there’s an absence of drug dealers. You talk to any bank that has real estate mortgages in the inner city, and they will tell you that the one thing that keeps up the value in that particular area is your Church. I’ve seen, for example, on Lorain near the Metro Catholic Schools there at the Church the nuns used to go out in the morning with brooms and sweep away the drug dealers from around the particular area.
On Health and Human Services, the homeless, adoption, drugs, adult care and so on, you saved the county 170 million dollars a year.
At the end of the day the difference that your local Catholic institutions make in the eight counties that comprise this diocese are several billion dollars per year.
Why don’t we hear about this? Why, because it’s good news. If some priest was caught with his hand in the collection plate it would be front page news. But the fact that you have thousands of students being education (sic) free, as far as the rest of the country is concerned, doesn’t make news. Why? Because it is not newsworthy, it’s not dirty.
I’m not here to deny freedom of the press, but I believe that with freedom comes responsibility, and with rights you have an obligation. You cannot have rights that are irresponsible.
Unfortunately, our society today is protected by all rights and ruled by some of their wickedness. Anybody who expects to reap the benefits of freedom must understand the total fatigue of supporting it. The most important element of political speech, as Aristotle taught, is the character of the speaker. In this respect, no matter what message a man brings in, it shouldn’t collide with his character.
The other day was shocked when I opened up America, a Catholic magazine, and my good friend Cardinal Keeler, who is a very dear friend of mine, was being fingerprinted by the Baltimore police not for a crime, but as part of the new law put in place that all members of the Church hierarchy must be fingerprinted.
Amos, of the Old Testament, accused the people of Samaria in words that seared and phrases that smote. They “cram their palaces,” he said, “with violence and extortion.” They had “sold the upright for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals” from Gucci, no doubt. But he also said that all this could be reversed, if only the people of Samaria would turn away from their own self absorption and toward those who, however silently, cry out for help. “Then,” promised Amos, “shall your justice flow like water and your compassion like a never failing stream” (Amos 5:24)
The worst feature of contemporary society is its tendency to leave each of us Locked up in himself or herself, connection less. To lessen this isolation we have developed all kinds of therapies spiritual, psychological, and physical front groups that meet and talk endlessly all day long in spas week spas, month spas, life spas. But none of these things, from primal screams to herbal wrap, seem to be doing the trick, any more than the huge houses and wine parties the.: the Samaritan did.
What we need to do is open our heart to the plight of others, even some of your priests who have been condemned. They’re human beings and they should be shown the same type of compassion we have shown anybody who is critically ill. We need to open our hearts to the plights of others, like our hearts were a dam, so that indeed our justice and compassion may flow to all.
What is essential is that each of us steps forward to hold out our hand to someone. There is no other way to walk with God.
One of the biggest Catholic bashers in the United States wrote “Only a minority, a tiny minority of priests, have abused the bodies of children.” He continues, “I am not advocating this course of action, but as much as I would like to see the Roman Catholic Church ruined. I hate opportunistically retrospective litigation even more.”
Now he’s talking about our tort monsters. “Lawyers who grow fat by digging up dirt on long?forgotten wrongs and hounding their aged perpetrators are no friends of mine.”
I’m still quoting this man, “All I’m doing” he said, “is calling attention to an anomaly. By all means, let’s kick a nasty institution when it is down, but there are better ways than litigation.” These words are from a Catholic hater.
I never thought in my life I would ever see these things.
Walk with your shoulders high and your head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non governmental agency today in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” And be proud, speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you’re a Catholic.
NOTE: Even though of the Jewish faith, Miller has been a staunch supporter of the Cleveland Diocese and Bishop Anthony Pilla. It was published in the May-June issue of the Buckeye Bulletin.
(Full Text)
Sam Miller, prominent Cleveland businessman – Jewish, not Catholic – is fighting mad about & concentrated effort by the media to denigrate the Catholic Church in this country.
I’m going to say things here today that many Catholics should have said 18 months ago. Maybe it’s easier for me to say because I am not Catholic, but I have had enough, more than enough, disgustingly enough.
During my entire life I’ve never seen a greater vindictive, more scurrilous, biased campaign against the Catholic Church as I have seen in the last 18 months, and the strangest thing is that it is in a country like the United States where there is supposed to be mutual respect and freedom for all religions.
This has bothered me because I too am a minority in this country. You see, unfortunately and I say this very advisedly the Catholics have forgotten that in the early 1850’s when the Italians, the Poles, the Latvians, the Lithuanians, all of Catholic persuasion, came to this country looking for opportunity because of famine, (particularly the Irish) they were already looked upon with derision, suspicion and hatred. Consequently the jobs they were forced to take were the jobs that nobody else wanted bricklayers, ditch diggers, Jewish junkmen, street cleaners, etc.
This prejudice against your religion and mine has never left this country and don’t ever forget it, and (sic) never will. Your people were called Papists, Waps, Guineas, frogs, fish eaters, ad infinitum.
And then after the Civil War, around 1864, the fundamentalists, conservatives, Protestants and a few WASP’s began planting burning crosses throughout the country, particularly in the South. And today; as far as I’m concerned, very little has changed. These gentlemen now have a new style of clothing they’ve gone from bed sheets to gentlemen’s suits.
There is a concentrated effort by the media today to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. You don’t find it this bad overseas at all. They have now blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage. You and me have been living in a false paradise. Wake up and recognize that many people don’t like Catholics. What are these people trying to accomplish?
From the Sojourner’s Magazine dated August, 2002, listen carefully to a quote, “While much of the recent media hype has focused on the Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal, relatively little attention has been given to the high rate of sexual misconduct in the rest of American Christendom. This is truly a crisis that crosses the borders of all religions.”
Now let me give you some figures that you as Catholics should know and remember. For example, research by Richard Blackman at Fuller Theological Seminary shows that 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact. In a 1990 study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergywomen reported unwanted sexual behavior by a colleague; 17% of laywomen said that their own pastors had sexually harassed them. Phillip Jenkins concludes in his book “Pedophiles and Priests” that while 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia, 10% of Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia.
This is not a Catholic problem. This is a problem of pure prejudice. Why the papers, day after day, week after week, month after month, see fit to do nothing but come out with these scurrilous stories? When I spoke recently to one of the higher ups in the newspaper I said, “This is wrong”. He said, “Why, do you want us to shoot the messenger?” I said, “No, just change the message”. He said, “How?” I said, “I’ll tell you how”.
Obviously, this is not just a Catholic problem. And solutions must be broader and deeper than those carried out by Catholic cardinals. The whole church has a responsibility to offer decisive leadership in the area of sexual misconduct whether it is child abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual harassment.
Recently, churches have shown unprecedented unity on issues of poverty and welfare reform. Now it is necessary to call for a broad based ecumenical council addressing the issue of sexual misconduct in the church not only the Catholic Church, all churches, including synagogues. Its goal would be transparency and openness in developing stringent, forward?looking guidelines, consistent with denominational distinctions, for preventing and addressing sexual misconduct within Christian churches and church?related institutions.
Such a council could include not only denominational representatives but also a majority presence from external organizations such as child protection agencies, law enforcement, psychiatric services, victims’ agencies, and legal and legislative representatives.
Crisis. “Crisis” in Chinese is one word. “Crisis” in Chinese means, on the one side, a real crisis problems etc., but the other side means great opportunity.
We have a great opportunity facing us. Crisis is often accompanied by an opportunity for extraordinary growth and leadership. We have that today. Even though you are the lowest ?? by far the lowest of any organized religion today when it comes to sexual harassment ?? American churches have a unique opening to develop and adopt a single set of policies, principles, practices, and common language on sexual misconduct in Christian institutions that is binding across denominations.
A system of cross denomination review boards could be established to help compliance and accountability. A centralized resource bank could be formed that provides church wide updates on new legal, financial, psychological and spiritual developments in the field. Guidelines, both moral and legal, could be established on how clergy, churches, and victims should best use civil and criminal actions in pursuit of justice and financial restitution for injury. A national database could be established with information on all applicants for ordination in any member Christian religion. Every diocese, conference, presbytery, and district could have a designated child protection representative whose job is to ensure that the policies and procedures are understood and implemented and that training is provided.
Any religious institution, or system, that leaves power unexamined or smothers sexuality with silence rather than promoting open conversation that can lead to moral and spiritual maturity becomes implicated in creating an unhealthy and potentially abusive environment. An ecumenical Christian council authentically dedicated to strong moral leadership in the area of clergy sexual misconduct might move the church beyond the extremes of policing our own or abandoning our own.
For Christians, the true scandal is not about priests. It’s about a manipulation of power to abuse the weak. When Jesus said, “Whoever receives the child, receives me”, he was rebuking his followers for putting stumbling blocks in front of the defenseless. Church is supposed to be a place where one can lay one’s defenses down; where one is welcomed, embraced, and blessed. This can only be authentically expressed in a culture that requires absolute respect for each individual’s freedom and self hood. Until all churches bow humbly under the requirement, the indictments by wounded women and children will stand.
Just what are these Kangaroo journalists trying to accomplish? Think about it. If you get the New York Times day’ ,after day; the Los Angeles Times day after day, our own paper day after day ………………….. looking at the record, some of these writers are apostates, Catholics or ex-Catholics who have been denied something they wanted from the Church and are on a mission of vengeance.
Why would newspapers carry on this vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?
Do you know and maybe some of you don’t the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday, at cost to your Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. Needless to say, that Catholic education at this time stands head and shoulders above every other form of education that we have in this country. And the cost is approximately 30% less.
If you look at our own Cleveland school system, they can boast of an average graduation rate of 36%. Do you know what it costs you and me as far as the other 64% who didn’t make it?
Look at your own records. You (Catholic schools) graduate 89% of your students Your graduates in turn go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%, and all at a cost to you. To the rest of the Americans it’s free, but it costs you Catholics at least 30% less to educate students compared to the costs that the public education system pays out for education that cannot compare.
Why? Why would these enemies of the Church try to destroy an institution that has 230 colleges and universities in the United States with an enrollment of 700,000 students?
Why would anyone want to destroy an institution like the Catholic Church which has a non profit hospital system of 637 hospitals which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people not just Catholics in the . United States today?
Why would anyone want to destroy an institution like that? Why would anyone want to destroy an institution that clothes and feeds and houses the indigent 1 of 5 indigents in the United States, I’ve been to many of your shelters and no one asks them if you are a Catholic, a Protestant or a Jew; just “come, be fed, here’s a sweater for you and a place to sleep at night” at a cost to the Church of 2.3 billion dollars a year?
The Catholic Church today has 64 million members in the United States and is the largest non-governmental agency in the country. It has 20,000 churches in this country alone. Every year they raise approximately $10 billion to help support these agencies.
Why, after the “respected” publication, the New York Times, running their daily expose’ on the Church, finally came to the conclusion of their particular investigation, which was ongoing for a long time. And guess what: buried in the last paragraph, they came up with a mouse. In their article “Decades of Damage” the Times reported that 1.8% of American priests were found guilty of this crime whereas your own Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome reported 1.7% the figure I gave you earlier.
Then again they launched an attack on the Church and its celibate priests. However, the New York Times did not mention in their study of American priests that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in the face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.
Why wouldn’t the New York Times, the paper of record they call themselves, mention this? You had to read it in the Los Angeles Times. The New York Times refused to print it.
If you read only the New York Times, you would begin to believe that priests are cowards; craven; sexually frustrated; unhealthy criminals; that prey on the innocent. What a shame.
Sometimes freedom of the press should have some type of responsibility, too. So I say this to you: instead of walking around with a hangdog look ?? I talk to a lot of Catholics all the time, “how’s everything going?” ………… “Well, in the face of things I guess okay”. That’s the wrong answer! The wrong answer!
Also, I ran into a fellow who said they started a discussion at some social function on pedophilia and he said, “I excused myself and left the room.” I said, “why did you do that?” “Well, you know how it is”.
I believe that if Catholics had the figures that I enumerated here, you don’t have to be ashamed of anything. Not only are you as good as the rest, but you’re better, in every respect.
The Catholic Church helps millions of people every day of the week, every week of the month, and every month of the year. People who are not Catholics, and I sit on your Catholic Foundation and I can tell you, and what I am telling you is so. Priests have their problems, they have their failings just as you and I in this room do, but they do not deserve to be calumniated as they have been.
In small measure let’s give the media its due. If it had not come out with this story of abusive priests, (but they just as well could have mentioned reverends, pastors and rabbis and whatever), probably little or nothing would have been. done. But what bothers me the most is this has given an excuse to every Catholic hater and Catholic basher to come out loudly for the denigration of your Church.
If some CEO’s are crooks it does not follow that every CEO is crooked; and if some priests are sexually ill it does not follow that all are sick. And your Church teaches that you’ve got to take in the sick and a priest who is this way has to be taken in and cannot be thrown out the 21st story of a building. He’s got to be looked upon and given the same type of health that you would give anybody who has a broken leg or cancer or whatever.
The Church today, and when I say the Church keep in mind I am talking about the Catholic Church, is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by an infinitesimally small number of wayward priests that, I feel, have probably been totally weeded out by now.
You see, the Catholic Church is much too viable to be put down by the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer take your choice, they can’t do it, they’re not going to do it and sooner or later they are going to give up. But you’ve got to make sure that you don’t give up first.
In 1799 a notice was placed in a French newspaper that a citizen Brachi had died in prison. Little did the people realize that this was Pope Pius VI who had occupied the Chair of Saint Peter for 25 years. He had been taken prisoner by Napoleon’s forces and died in prison as an indigent. At that time the thought was that this was the end of the Catholic Church, this was 200 and some odd years ago. And the reason was that there was no Pope to succeed him at that time.
But you fooled them then, and we’re going to fool them again.
I’ve been talking more or less about the United States of America as far as the importance of the Church. Let’s bring it home to Cuyahoga County and the seven surrounding counties.
In education, you save the county 420 million dollars per year. Wherever there’s a Church and most other churches have fled the inner city there’s a Catholic Church; and wherever there’s a Catholic Church there’s an absence of drug dealers. You talk to any bank that has real estate mortgages in the inner city, and they will tell you that the one thing that keeps up the value in that particular area is your Church. I’ve seen, for example, on Lorain near the Metro Catholic Schools there at the Church the nuns used to go out in the morning with brooms and sweep away the drug dealers from around the particular area.
On Health and Human Services, the homeless, adoption, drugs, adult care and so on, you saved the county 170 million dollars a year.
At the end of the day the difference that your local Catholic institutions make in the eight counties that comprise this diocese are several billion dollars per year.
Why don’t we hear about this? Why, because it’s good news. If some priest was caught with his hand in the collection plate it would be front page news. But the fact that you have thousands of students being education (sic) free, as far as the rest of the country is concerned, doesn’t make news. Why? Because it is not newsworthy, it’s not dirty.
I’m not here to deny freedom of the press, but I believe that with freedom comes responsibility, and with rights you have an obligation. You cannot have rights that are irresponsible.
Unfortunately, our society today is protected by all rights and ruled by some of their wickedness. Anybody who expects to reap the benefits of freedom must understand the total fatigue of supporting it. The most important element of political speech, as Aristotle taught, is the character of the speaker. In this respect, no matter what message a man brings in, it shouldn’t collide with his character.
The other day was shocked when I opened up America, a Catholic magazine, and my good friend Cardinal Keeler, who is a very dear friend of mine, was being fingerprinted by the Baltimore police not for a crime, but as part of the new law put in place that all members of the Church hierarchy must be fingerprinted.
Amos, of the Old Testament, accused the people of Samaria in words that seared and phrases that smote. They “cram their palaces,” he said, “with violence and extortion.” They had “sold the upright for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals” from Gucci, no doubt. But he also said that all this could be reversed, if only the people of Samaria would turn away from their own self absorption and toward those who, however silently, cry out for help. “Then,” promised Amos, “shall your justice flow like water and your compassion like a never failing stream” (Amos 5:24)
The worst feature of contemporary society is its tendency to leave each of us Locked up in himself or herself, connection less. To lessen this isolation we have developed all kinds of therapies spiritual, psychological, and physical front groups that meet and talk endlessly all day long in spas week spas, month spas, life spas. But none of these things, from primal screams to herbal wrap, seem to be doing the trick, any more than the huge houses and wine parties the.: the Samaritan did.
What we need to do is open our heart to the plight of others, even some of your priests who have been condemned. They’re human beings and they should be shown the same type of compassion we have shown anybody who is critically ill. We need to open our hearts to the plights of others, like our hearts were a dam, so that indeed our justice and compassion may flow to all.
What is essential is that each of us steps forward to hold out our hand to someone. There is no other way to walk with God.
One of the biggest Catholic bashers in the United States wrote “Only a minority, a tiny minority of priests, have abused the bodies of children.” He continues, “I am not advocating this course of action, but as much as I would like to see the Roman Catholic Church ruined. I hate opportunistically retrospective litigation even more.”
Now he’s talking about our tort monsters. “Lawyers who grow fat by digging up dirt on long?forgotten wrongs and hounding their aged perpetrators are no friends of mine.”
I’m still quoting this man, “All I’m doing” he said, “is calling attention to an anomaly. By all means, let’s kick a nasty institution when it is down, but there are better ways than litigation.” These words are from a Catholic hater.
I never thought in my life I would ever see these things.
Walk with your shoulders high and your head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non governmental agency today in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” And be proud, speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you’re a Catholic.
NOTE: Even though of the Jewish faith, Miller has been a staunch supporter of the Cleveland Diocese and Bishop Anthony Pilla. It was published in the May-June issue of the Buckeye Bulletin.
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